Gadgets/Widgets

I use Yahoo! widgets under windows, and I want something like that for Linux. I would show you a screenshot of my desktop with the widgets, but I'm running a Windows free weekend, so I can't do that.

This post is a place holder to remind me that I have to get into this aspect as well.

Any hints would be great, but I'll update my efforts later.

Update 8/23 2:00pm

I've found out about Google Gadgets for Linux. I'm following their install directions, but I'm having problems getting all the dependencies right. This is my biggest pet peeve about Linux. Under Windows you get an installer, and it installs with a few clicks. With Linux you have to cofigure, make, and so on. Sometimes they have dependencies you don't have, so you have to download this and that, and hope they don't have dependencies.

I understand that each distro has a different file structure, and everyone's computer might have a different kernel compiled, but it's got to be easier if Linux is to take on the desktop.

Apple's done it with a Unix based system, but they know what the structure will be and what the kernel will contain, so they've got it easy.

Update: 8/23 6:00pm
One of the dependencies was QT 2. I spent over two hours doing the install (watching the computer do the install), and it gobbled up the last 2.2 GIG of my hard drive. I'm running in a very small partition until my new hard drive comes in, so this is an issue. I'm going to install my external hard drive, try to mount it, and use that for my free space. 100 Gigs should be enough, no?

Update 8/24 9:20am
I got it installed last night and this morning, and tried running configure again. Still not installing. It gives me an error:

configure: error: conditional "GTK2_TARGET_X11" was never defined.

I've tried installing a few modules for GTK, some internet searches, and even Seamonkey. Nothing seems to work. I'm going to go to their support site and gripe a bit.

Update 8/25:
I got a response back from Google's mailing list. They said to install the dev packages, and it works. Now, I'm not so sure I like it.

I'm also experimenting with Screenlets. That installed and appears to run, but none of the screenlets show on my screen. I'm on their forum to try and get answers to that one.